(1992)

Story:

This movie about Christopher Columbus´ discovery of America was made celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery. The explorer is portrayed by Gérard Depardieu; Sigourney Weaver is the Spanish Queen Isabel. The emphasis in the story lies on the disastrous affects the Europeans had on the original inhabitants, and Columbus' struggle to civilise the new world.

Birgitte S.C.´s opinion:

Conquest of Paradise isn´t a movie that´s carried by its storyline. After all, we all know more or less how Columbus discovered America. What counts is the performance of the cast, which in this case is sublime. 

Ridley Scott is known for his beautiful images, which we have admired in (among others) the successfull movie Gladiator. 1492 is a similar movie, an epic based on historical events, and the looks of these two movies are genuinely stunning. Therefore I find it unfair that Conquest of Paradise is always left out when people talk
about Ridley Scott´s movies (it´s always Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise and Gladiator that´s mentioned). This movie certainly deserves to be viewed by everyone. 

I find the heavenly music by Vangelis the most remarkable thing about the movie. In my country [The Netherlands, Europe] the main theme (who doesn´t know that one?) has been a no. 1 hit for several weeks. The music perfectly matches the mood and looks of the movie and just keeps hanging in your head for days. Vangelis did an excellent job and I find it too bad that he isn´t hired often by Hollywood directors. 

The only handicap of the movie is that the cast isn´t talking with the same accent: Gérard Depardieu speaks English with a French accent, Sigourney speaks American English and others speak with a Spanish accent. This is sometimes a little bit annoying, but I´ll forgive them for that.


Discover the other great epic by Ridley Scott!!

RATING: 8 OUT OF 10